Blithfield Hall (pronounced locally as Bliffield), is a privately owned

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England, situated some east of

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

, southwest of

Uttoxeter Uttoxeter ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in the East Staffordshire borough of Staffordshire, England. It is near to the Derbyshire county border. The town is from Burton upon Trent via the A50 and the A38, from Stafford via the A51 ...

and north of

Rugeley Rugeley ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cannock Chase District, in Staffordshire, England. It lies on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase next to the River Trent; it is north of Lichfield, southeast of Stafford, northeast of ...

The Hall, with its embattled towers and walls, has been the home of the Bagot family since the late 14th century. The present house is mainly

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...

, with a

neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

façade added in the 1820s to a design probably by John Buckler. The decoration of the house was carried out by the Gothic-style plasterer, Francis Bernasconi. In 1945 the Hall, then in a neglected and dilapidated state, was sold by Gerald Bagot, 5th Baron Bagot, together with its estate to South Staffordshire Waterworks Company, whose intention was to build a reservoir (completed in 1953). The 5th Baron died in 1946 having sold many of the contents of the house. His successor and cousin Caryl Bagot, 6th Baron Bagot, repurchased the property and of land from the water company and began an extensive programme of renovation and restoration. In September 1959 Lord Bagot sold Blithfield Hall at an open auction held in the Shrewsbury Arms,

. The property was bought for £12,000 (''2011: £'') by his wife Nancy, Lady Bagot. The 6th Baron died in 1961. In 1986, the Hall was divided into four separate houses. The main part which incorporates the

Great Hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...

is owned by the Bagot Jewitt Trust. The Bagot Jewitt family remain in residence. On a Monday in early September every year, villagers from nearby

Abbots Bromley Abbots Bromley is a village and civil parish in the East Staffordshire district of Staffordshire and lies approximately east of Stafford, England. According to the University of Nottingham English Place-names project, the settlement name Abbots ...

visit the Hall to perform the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. Baron Bagot coa

Blithfield Hall is known as the home of a breed of

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

, the

Bagot goat The Bagot goat is a breed of goat which for several hundred years has lived semi-wild at Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire, England. It is a small goat, with a black head and neck and the remainder of the body white. In 2010 it was considered "cri ...

. The part of the parish known as Bagot's Bromley took its name from ownership by the family since 1360.Blithfield Hall
Bagot's Wood, the remains of the ancient

Needwood Forest Needwood Forest was a large area of ancient woodland in Staffordshire, England, which was largely lost at the end of the 18th century. History The forest was on extensive lands owned by the Berkeley family of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershi ...

, also takes its name from the Bagots.

References

* ''Blithfield Hall - A descriptive Survey and History'' Nancy, Lady Bagot (1966) English Life Publications

External links

Blithfield Hall website
- This link is now all adverts - nothing useful to see.
Images of England:Blithfield Hall
{{Coord, 52.812987, -1.935716, source:geograph.co.uk_region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Country houses in Staffordshire Gothic Revival architecture in Staffordshire Grade I listed houses in Staffordshire

See also

References

External links